


Seven

by Suflet



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Dating, Eventual Romance, F/M, Flirting, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Magic, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:13:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25770418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Suflet/pseuds/Suflet
Summary: Fred Weasley makes Hermione a promise seven times.
Relationships: Hermione Granger & Fred Weasley, Hermione Granger/Fred Weasley
Comments: 14
Kudos: 85





	Seven

**Author's Note:**

> All the characters are the property of J. K. Rowling.

They say _seven_ is the most powerful magical number and each time you voice it, if you pay close attention, you’ll understand. A soft shiver, reverberating in every fragment of your being, a promise of ancient magic that most wizards forgot.

Seven branches of magic, seven types of spells, seven letters in many of them.

Seven times he promised her.

…

The first time, they were just children and it meant for one what it meant for the other: just a joke.

“I do not understand how one is supposed to get anything done with all that giggling!” Hermione complained, eyeing a group of girls from the other side of the Gryffindor Common Room furiously. “They’re fifth years, they are supposed to be studying for OWLs, not talk about dates and boys _constantly_!”

Fred and George, who happened to be near her, planning an extensive prank on Marcus Flint, heard her and started laughing, which only served to make her angrier.

“They are talking about us, I hope” said George, wiggling his eyebrows towards her, making her glare at him in a murderous way.

“Come on, Granger, it’s the way of the world” said Fred, grinning playfully at her. “When you grow up I’m going to take you on a date and you’ll understand what the fuss is all about”

She turned to look at Fred with the same angry look on her face and, for a second, George thought he will have to spend his night searching for the counter-course for whichever spell she’ll use to hex his brother, never mind that she was a first year and shouldn’t know any. She looked like she was considering inventing one just for him.

“Don’t you mean perhaps when you’ll grow up too?” she haughtily replied, rising from her chair and leaving a coughing George who choked on his pumpkin juice and a surprised Fred alone with the fifth year giggling group in the Common Room.

“That little-“ started Fred, but was interrupted by his brother. “Well, she has a point, it’s not like you’ve been on any date”

“Shut up, George”

And he did, but he thought Fred sounded a little impressed too.

…

The second time, it happened during a very crowded Hospital Wing and everyone heard him, except for her.

“She looks so much like a statue” Lavender thought out loud, looking anxiously at the petrified form of Hermione. “She’s even cold like one”

Most of the Gryffindor second year and a few older students who were gathered around the young witch seemed to agree with her, but for some reason Fred felt the acute need of taking out his wand and turning the girl into a two pigtailed frog for stating something so moronically obvious.

He didn’t, of course, even if he was getting pretty good at Transfiguration lately.

“You think they are going to bring her back?” asked Parvati. “She’s not going to die, or remain like that forever, is she?”

“Of course they will!” Fred said with more conviction in his voice than he felt, fast enough that everyone turned to look at him. Then, trying to make everyone relax – _including himself_ \- he added “she has a date with me to go to, she’s not getting out of it that easily”

While everyone laughed, Fred looked at Hermione again and couldn’t help but hope for a few seconds that she heard it too, even though he knew she couldn’t.

…

The third time, he was worried about her again, so naturally he tried to mask it by using what he used best: humor.

“Granger’s insane” said Lee, making Fred and George’s heads turn towards the third year girl, who was sleeping on a chair with her head on her books in the middle of the Gryffindor Common Room. Considering how many she had opened around her, she clearly didn’t mean to.

“She’s been working without a break since before you two went to Quidditch practice. And it’s Friday night”

Something the three of them were supposed to do too, considering they had OWLs soon, but after three hours of potions, one had to think of something else to keep sane. Lee bringing her up was just as well, since both Fred and George were worrying about her anyway. Hermione’s been overworking herself a lot recently and her falling asleep of exhaustion that night wasn’t an only occurrence, something that both twins knew very well. They never talked about it, but both of them noticed it, one firsthand and the second because he kept observing the other one noticing.

“Yes, we know” George said, turning his head from the sleeping girl towards his brother. He watched Fred looking at her, guessing what was on his mind before he even turned to look at him. He rose from the armchair and headed for Hermione’s.

“What is he doing?” Lee asked in a panicked whisper. “She’s going to hex him into next week for waking her up!”

“She won’t” George said, relaxing into his chair and watching as Fred sat down next to her.

She didn’t stir when Fred touched her shoulder, so he shook her gently, whispering her name to wake her up. She opened her eyes and rose her head, blinking owlishly at him, in a typical confusion of someone who was too tired to grasp what was going on around her instantly. Fred couldn’t help thinking that she looked very pretty like that, even if he’s rather have her well rested

“You fell asleep here” Fred provided, at the same time that she realized what had happened and looked around in panic, meaning to start working again.

“No” he said in a decisive tone, grabbing her right hand before she could reach her quil. “You’re going to make yourself ill if you don’t slow down a bit. It’s Friday night and you need to rest. You have an entire weekend to do everything you have to do. Not to mention, you’re going to do a better job tomorrow than right now”

Hermione’s panic was replaced with surprise at his words. Logically, she knew he was right, and she needed to take better care of herself, no matter how many classes she was taking. She could do without Divination and she didn’t really need to read more about computers, nor did she need to read another book for the Charms essay. It might not have her usual above average standard, but it was good.

Making the decision to listen to Fred, she turned her thoughts on him. Harry and Ron both mentioned the fact that she was working too hard, but none of them actually made her stop her work, either because they were afraid of her hexing them, or because they didn’t care enough. Well, here was someone who, surprisingly, had to care to wake her up, give her advice and send her to bed. Oddly enough, the thought made her feel warm.

“You’re right” She yawned in her other hand, and they both realised he was still holding her right hand in his. He let it go.

“Good. Now be a good girl and go to sleep. How am I going to prove to you how great dates can be if you fall asleep on ours?” Fred grinned and it made her laugh remembering that moment from her first year, before she smiled at him and rose to go to sleep.

“Thank you, Fred”

“No problem, Granger”

Lee watched her go with an open mouth, as if he couldn’t believe what he just saw. “She didn’t hex him…”

“You owe me five galleons, mate” said George in a serious tone, but he was smiling internally.

…

The fourth time was the first time he actually meant it.

He noticed her leaving the Yule Ball earlier with her date, but refused to think too much about what she was doing or where she was going. It was, after all, none of his business. She was not his date and even if he had wanted her to be, that would not have happened. Not as long as her mind was set on his idiotic brother.

So instead he focused on his date, but not before he ignored George’s pointed look in his direction. Sometimes it was a pain in the backside to have someone know everything you feel. But to his credit, George never brought up the subject and the night ended in a very merry tone.

Fred offered to walk Angelina to the Gryffindor tower, but George was still dancing and Lee was a little too drunk to walk alone. Sneaking in a stolen bottle of Firewhiskey seemed like a good idea before, but now that McGonagall was giving him sharp stares that clearly meant “ Fix this, Weasley, before he regurgitates his insides on my freshly transfigurated floor or you’ll spend the next year polishing it manually” he was having second thoughts.

“It’s fine, you can wait for George and help Lee up. I’ll go with the girls” she smiled at him and kissed his cheek.

“Thank you, Angelina”

On a different night, when he wasn’t suddenly responsible for his best friend’s well-being and his mind wasn’t on another girl, maybe he would have kissed her. Maybe even more. But it was hardly the case now, so he turned and grabbed George from the dance floor, apologizing to the Hufflepuff girl he was dancing with.

“Come on, we have to take Lee away from here before McGonagall murders us on the spot” he explained, turning and making his way towards his friend, knowing that George was following.

“Nah, you know she’s all bark and no bite when it comes to our charm. Did he drink the whole bottle?”

“Unless you drank more than just that first glass we had. I haven’t seen him in the last hour or so.”

By the time they reached him, Lee opened his eyes briefly and gave them a giant smile.

“My two best friends from the whole world”

“Highly inebriated, I’d say” George said what they were both thinking while grabbing him and helping him stand. Lucky for them, Lee didn’t put much of a fight, so they arrived in the Gryffindor Common room quietly and rather quickly.

They were about to go upstairs, when both twins noticed a figure near the window, covered in a blanket and looking outside. It was dark, but even so, both of them realized who she was and figured something must have been wrong.

Sometimes, having someone who knows everything you feel can also be a blessing. It took 2 seconds of eye contact, before George said “I got him” and took Lee upstairs on his own.

“Hello, Hermione” said Fred, approaching her and standing on the ground close to her, casting a warming charm to the stone floor. She looked up at him and being so close to her, he noticed that she was tired, strands of her hair were falling out of her hairstyle and her eyes were red. Fred thought of every possible scenario and was ready to go hex Viktor Krum to pieces, famous Quidditch player and Triwizard Tournament Champion or not, when she spoke.

“I’m fine, Fred. Don’t let me keep you. Lee doesn’t seem to be very well”

“He’s just a little drunk, George can handle him. What happened?”

She turned and looked outside the window and took a few breaths before she answered. “Me and Ron had a fight. Because of Viktor, who has been incredibly civil towards him tonight and instead your brother decided to behave like an asshole.”

Fred silently cursed his brother, both for being thick-minded enough to miss this opportunity and also for fighting with her, when the only person he should be angry at is him. He couldn’t understand Ron. If it was up to him, he would have asked her to go to the ball with him the second they found out they were supposed to bring dates, but he decided to try and be the better person -or brother- and let Ron take her. Because Fred knew she fancied him. He also knew he fancied her too, even if Ron didn’t know, at least until this night.

“My brother can be dim witted at times” he said while covering her shoulders with his arm. He was a little surprised when she relaxed and let her head rest on his shoulder.

“He can. I don’t understand him. I kept hoping he’d ask me to go to the ball with him. Actually, I only said yes to Viktor on his third time asking me. And after I said yes, Ronald appears and asks me out, but not before suggesting he only wants to take me so I’d have someone to go with as well.”

Fred was silent for a few seconds, thinking, again, of how maybe the whole intellect of the Weasley family passed Ronald’s turn and settled in Ginevra instead. His brother had been totally clueless. Fred was quite sure that every male by the age of fourteen should have already discovered the notion of girls (or boys), but maybe not everything was a lost cause, considering that same notion probably hit his brother in the face a few hours before.

“If you ask me” Fred said “I’d say he figured out about now that the idea of you going out with someone else doesn’t seem to sit right with him. Even if he can’t yet accept that it’s jealousy he’s feeling”

Something Fred had no problem accepting, whatsoever. On his own brother. Lucky for him, he rather loved his own brother too, so that was quite easy to surpass.

“If you ask me, I think it’s going to take years of emotional maturing before he reaches that conclusion” she answered gloomily.

“Give my brother some credit, he’s not _that_ dim witted. But…if it takes years, it takes years. In the meantime, you have a famous Quidditch player all over you”

“Fred-” she protested, but he kept going, because even if he said it as a joke, he still wanted to say it.

“You do. After what I saw tonight, you do. And if you decide you don’t want to go out with him, it is not like you lack other options”

He could see her furrowing her brow and almost laughed at her confusion.

“Options?”

“Of course. Me. I’d take you out on a date anytime you want”

He could feel a sudden tension in her body, before she assumed -wrongly- that he was joking and relaxed against him.

“Yes, you don’t have to take me out just to prove your point anymore, but Fred… thank you.”

She turned to look at him, and they both seemed to realize how close they were to each other. It was the first time they were this close and for Hermione, realizing how comforting this was and how calm she felt after talking to him made her confused.

Fred was not the academic type, but his interests were pursued with great passion and his skills were honeyed to the extreme, so he read her feelings in a matter of seconds. Like Ronald’s lack of understanding of his own feelings, Hermione was still unaware of the chemistry between them. And just because she looked beautiful, staring at him with big brown eyes, chest rising and falling a little faster than usual, he closed the distance between them and kissed her sweetly. Then, before she could say anything about it, he helped both of them up.

“Chin up and go to sleep. Ronald will come around in a few days and hopefully he’s going to admit to being a prat and apologize. It’s not like you owe him anything when it comes to your personal life.”

Hermione was still caught up in that kiss, looking at him and not being able to form anything coherent to say. Lucky for her, she didn’t have to.

“Hermione” Fred said, grabbing her hand and leading her to the stairs. “Go rest. I’ll see you tomorrow”

She swallowed, mouth suddenly dry, but turned to face him nonetheless. She looked ready to say something about the kiss, then decided against it in the last moment.

“I will. Thank you”

“You’re welcome. Good night, Hermione”

“Goodnight”

He watched her go inside the girls’ dormitory, then he went upstairs to his own. As expected, George was waiting for him fully dressed, his wand in his right hand.

“I take it we’re not taking a trip to the Durmstrang ship?”

“If you want to hex the culprit, our brother is in the next room.” Fred morosely replied.

George watched his brother pensively for a few seconds.

“She’ll come around, Fred”

“Shut up”

…

The fifth time was the first time that maybe she started to wish it was more than a joke.

He was looking for Ginny, because she was the only Weasley home that wasn’t already in the kitchen when he and George arrived that night. It was a rare occasion, him and George coming home. Between opening a joke shop and actually trying to invent enough products for it to be a success, they had only little time to do anything else.

That and both of them were still afraid of being hexed by their mother. She was quite known for not thinking straight but hexing straight when angry. And flying off on their brooms, figuratively burning away their education, isn’t exactly the sort of thing that makes all mothers proud. Especially when you come from a family that also has Percy in it.

“Ginny! Come downstairs if you want to spend some exquisite time with your favourite brother and his doppelganger!”

“I wasn’t aware you’re a doppelganger”

He stopped in his tracks, looking at the girl in front of him. Nobody told him she’d be here, especially not in Ginny’s room, wearing nothing but a blue nightshirt that was unbuttoned at the top and smiling sweetly at him.

“I’m the favourite brother, actually” he smiled and it would have been a full mouth smile, because he was happy to see her, if not for the way she looked. She was thin, especially too thin for someone who stays in the Weasley house, and tired, something that was obvious in both the way she looked and in how she carried herself.

“How are you?” Fred asked her. He knew she had been discharged from St Mungo a week ago, but between Sirius’s death, Voldemort’s return and their business, his and George’s days had been filled with so many things to do that he couldn’t remember getting himself into bed at night before falling asleep.

He could guess the answer based on how she looked, but the question seemed to throw her off more than he expected. Hermione paled and her hand went instinctively to her chest, attracting his attention to the angry looking scar emerging from underneath her shirt.

Dolohov’s slashing curse.

“I’m fine” she quickly recovered and said, but it ringed hollow in his ears. A lie. Fred thought she must have answered it at least a dozen times before, so he didn’t say anything. Instead he walked to her, took her hand in his and sat both of them down on the bed. She turned her head away from him and seemed to try very hard not to cry, so he took her in his arms slowly, trying not to hurt her in the process and let her release all her fear and stress.

“It’s stupid” she said, after a while, when her breath evened and her eyes dried.

“Hmm?” he asked, breathing her scent in and touching her back comfortingly. It was something that came so natural to him. This wasn’t new to Fred, but it still managed to surprise him. With anyone else, except his sister, he would have been incredibly awkward trying to offer comfort, cracking jokes left and right. And even so, that might have worked with anyone else, because anyone else probably would have talked about it by now, but he knew she didn’t. The only person who would have confronted her blatant “I’m fine” lie living in his house was his father and Fred didn’t imagine he had much free time lately, no matter how good his intentions were.

“This. Everything. Sirius is dead. You know who is back. And I am over here crying because I’ve been hexed by a death eater and survived”

“Feeling what you’re feeling is not stupid, Hermione. You almost died. Just because someone had it worse than you doesn’t mean your feelings are not valid”

“He slashed me open from my right shoulder to my left hip” she whispered, and he closed his eyes, because the image of her bleeding was so bad in his mind that he needed a moment to compose himself. It was already bad that he saw her in the hospital, with bandages bigger than her own figure and color closer to a dead body than a living human. Imagining her getting hit by that curse and bleeding filled him with such panic and dread that he almost crushed her in his arms.

“He’ll pay for it, Hermione” he whispered with all the conviction that he felt. “The first time any of us see him we’ll make sure he’ll pay for it. He will never hurt you again.”

She sighed.

“He doesn’t need to. I have a scar. It doesn’t go away. And every time I look at it, I can almost feel it all over again. The healers said that it will get marginally better and fade in color, but it will always look like that. And I feel like the most superficial person on earth for worrying about it, also considering that it still hurts, but it’s…I can’t even wear a tank top without it being seen.”

He could understand the implications of what she was saying all too well. It was more than a constant reminder of what happened to her, that scar. It was something that made her less attractive in her own eyes. That made her think people will find her less attractive because of that.

Fred almost snorted. As if.

Instead, he rose and started to unbutton his shirt, leaving her to look at him confused.

“Fred...”

He finished, then he turned sideways and let her look at him.

“I was almost three when Voldemort attacked Harry, you know. And before that, my parents were part of the Order and were attacked by Death Eaters more than once. One time, they were having a gathering for Dad’s birthday and were attacked. Charlie picked me up when someone threw a curse at us. He tried to turn and shield me, but it hit us both, so we have this scar in the same place, but mine got bigger as I was growing, so I’m stuck with a nasty looking scar without even remembering the incident” Then he pointed to one on his back, which wasn’t as big as the last one. “I got this one from a Slytherin. I didn’t go to Madame Pomfrey because I was out of bed after curfew, so George did his best and patched me up” Then he showed her his arms “ We all got this from Umbridge and I don’t assume it’s going to go away any time soon and I have a few more from our trial and error with the products. Now, my scars might not be as glorious as yours is, but if you tell me I’m less attractive in your eyes than I was five minutes ago, I am going to laugh, because not only do I know I look great, I’m also halfway naked, so there is no chance you’ll mean that.”

That, actually, made her smile, even if she wasn’t quite convinced.

“Hermione, no man that ever loves you or even just wants you will be put off by it. That scar makes you even more enticing than you already were. I can almost picture you in a dress, with that scar starting from your shoulder and going under it-“

“OI! Haven’t seen my favourite brother in a century and now that he finally came home, I find him in my room half naked with my best friend.”

Fred turned and smirked towards Ginny’s form from the door, before raising his arms in a gesture of defeat.

“Caught in the act, I’m afraid” he said.

“We were not!” said Hermione and Fred watched her blush with amusement. She was also doing her best to try and explain what they were doing and why they were half naked when Ginevra walked in, and he thought she looked so innocent, that he couldn’t help himself.

“Don’t worry, love. We will continue this after our first date.” He said, looking at her from head to toe and making sure she knew he was.

She turned to look at him with her mouth half opened, ready to protest, but didn’t get the chance.

“Wear a dress. I bet it looks alluring, that scar, so alluring that it would make me want to take that dress of and trace it with my mouth”

“FRED WEASLEY!”

Ginevra stared at both of them, said “Merlin, what am I doing here?”, then left them to themselves.

…

The sixth time was the first time they were both on the same page.

Everywhere around Fred, people were dancing, drinking and talking to each other, almost as if nothing else was happening in this world except this wedding. And even if that’s exactly what he wanted for his brother and Fleur, he couldn’t join in as celebratory as everyone else. Especially not since the whole night felt like the proverbial calm before the storm and the nagging feeling, no matter how much he tried to surpass it, won’t go away.

”If you’re going to stand there looking like that a bit longer, someone will hex you thinking you’re an impostor” he heard Hemione say before he saw her to his left, holding two glasses and smiling sweetly up at him.

Before preparations for Harry’s extraction, they hadn’t seen each other for almost a year while she had been at Hogwarts. He didn’t think he’d changed all that much. New haircut and fancy suits and hours after hours of business management, but nothing fundamental. He couldn’t say the same about her. There was something in the way she now worked her magic that made her very different to him. Maybe it was about last year incident when she almost died, or maybe it was about the attack on Hogwarts and Dumbledore’s death. It gave Fred the distinct impression that there was not a spot of childhood magic left in her, like whatever happened matured her magic with years.

Which made her joking with him even more incredible.

”Maybe I am an impostor. How would you know?” he asked, grinning at her, before taking a sip of the beverage. ”Wine? Are you trying to get me drunk? If you want to take advantage of me all you have to do is ask.”

He watched as Hermione went almost as red as her dress, but to her credit, she took a sip of her own wine, left the glass on a table and said ”Only you would accuse _me_ of trying to take advantage of you, while the rest of the world believes I’m the type of person who’s living under the impression that the polite thing to do before taking someone to your bed is buying them dinner.”

Fred started laughing the moment he heard her and for a few seconds, the calm before the storm was forgotten. There only were the two of them, two glasses of elf made wine and a very slow song to which couples started dancing on. He hadn’t danced the whole night. “There are more ways to take advantage of someone than just bedding them, but glad to know where your mind is going” he told her, while taking hold of her hand and taking her to the dance floor.

Hermione bit her lower lip, then seemed to make up her mind about something. “You were not talking about the other ways, Fred”

He expected her to look anywhere but at him and it was not the case. He was right to assume something had changed within her. They were also openly discussing sex and while he flirted with her before shamelessly almost every occasion he’s got, she’s never once answered with even the slightest hint that she’d be interested in him.

“I was right, you know. Last year, when I told you that seeing you in a dress will only make me want to take it off and kiss you everywhere”

There was definitely interest there, in the way she looked at him as he said those words, in the way her hands gripped him a little tighter than before. But Fred also knew her better, and her hair crackling with magic like that meant only one thing.

“Are you EVER going to say one of those things and actually mean it?” she kept her voice down, but she was suddenly obviously upset.

“What?” He tried to keep up with her change of subject, but wasn’t sure of what she was speaking of.

“That’s all you do. You flirt with me, you joke about taking me out, then you never do!”

For a few seconds, Fred watched her, trying not to burst into laughter, or else she might have hexed him right there. He presumed he understood why she didn’t think he was ever serious, since all this started when she was a first year, but even then, thinking about it, it had been less a joke and more an acknowledgment for him. He made up his mind all those years ago that he’d take her out sometime, but it never seemed to be the right time.

“I offered, anytime you wanted, but you never did Hermione. There was only one person on your mind when you thought of love and it was never me”

She was quiet for a few seconds, but didn’t stop looking at him. For all her anger at Ron for not realizing their possible connection back in fourth year, how could it take her six years to figure this one out? And why did she have to think of him like that now, when she had to leave with Harry and Ron to destroy the horcurxes?

“It hasn’t been someone else for some time now”

As an answer, Fred tightened his arms around her and inhaled sharply. “Well, leave it to you to inform me of this right before your departure.”

“You know” she said, suddenly sounding as tired as he looked in that corner of the tent a few minutes ago.

It wasn’t a question, so there was no need for an answer, but he did anyway. “I know”

She didn’t know what to say to him. Hermione thought they were being cautious, but everyone seemed to know they won’t be returning to Hogwarts despite that. Maybe Ginny told him, or he took the time and figured it out himself. Not that it mattered, considering there was only one conclusion that didn’t involve them being in the same place anytime soon.

Fred was thinking along the same lines, but the warm feeling that settled in his chest didn’t let him be discouraged.

“Well then, you’re bound to come back after all this is over”

“Fred…”

“Then we’ll tell our children how mommy, their uncle Ron and uncle Harry destroyed the darkest wizard that ever existed as a bed-time story”

“Children? Fred, you’re joking again!”

“Not at all. I’m talking about the children we’ll be making after I take you on a proper date. After all, people here seem to believe you’re the type that thinks the appropriate thing to do before bedding someone is buying them dinner”

That made her laugh and for a few moments she basked in that feeling of carelessness and wished she could feel like that anytime she wanted, without having to carry that heavy feeling in her chest every time she thought about the world, Voldemort, her parents, Harry. She opened her mouth to tell him that he’d better honor this invitation and take her on that damn date, when a blue light entered the tent and the dark reality came crushing down on her.

_“The ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming.”_

She squeezed her purse, looked for Harry and Ron, then turned to Fred to say goodbye after she spotted the boys. He smiled sadly at her, before bending down and kissing her cheek.

”Go. We’ll be fine.” He said, but looked like he wanted to say so much more. Everywhere around them people were disapparating, or had their wands out, ready for a fight. George was by their side in a matter of seconds.

”We’ll try to hold them. Don’t worry, Hermione, I’ll look out for this idiot, though generally speaking he’s way more lucky than I am”

She nodded her head to George at the same time that she heard the boys calling for her. Hermione looked one more time at the Weasley twins, then she grabbed Harry and Ron’s hands and apparated them away.

“She and Ronniekins finally over?” George asked, more as a way to soften the situation they were about to get in than expecting an answer, considering he already knew what it was.

“She said so” Fred answered, taking out his wand. George nodded his head at him.

“Good. Let’s take down some Death Eaters”

…

The seventh time was the most precious of them all.

Even though she was tired, Hermione’s mind and whole body were buzzing with adrenaline just for the simple fact of being inside the castle. She looked at their friends gathered around her, Harry and Ron, and she saw on all their faces the same determination that met her every time she stared into a mirror. It surprised her, to see them like that, when none of them had to deal with Voldemort first-hand. When none of them had to carry his soul around for hours, hearing it whisper malicious but seductive words in their ear, when none of them had to ask themselves if it was their desires or his desires that kept them up at night, wondering.

Then she asked herself if that was the only reason why she wanted him gone and a memory of her parents resurfaced again. Then one of her friends. How many of them had family on the run or were on the run themselves? And how many of them were hurt just for facing his people, his orders, everyday? Looking around her, Hermione couldn’t see one person that escaped without a scratch. Even first or second years. And what she’s heard so far about the Carrows was enough to make her skin crawl. Maybe not in a Bellatrix Lestrange kind of way, but definitely in a dark and twisted way that had no place inside a school.

She never felt closer to an end as she had in that moment. One way or another, Hermione was sure it will all end that night.

She checked the mental list she’s made all those months ago _. Rowena Ravenclaw’s horcrux. The cup. Nagini. Voldemort._ She hesitated, then added _Harry?_ on it too. The thought was plaguing her for months. She shared her concerns with Ron in a desperate hope that he’d tell her she was out of her mind, that what she said was impossible, but he just looked at her in an inexplicable way, opened then closed his mouth a few times, before he said “Blimey!”

By then, she was already crying.

And now, a few months later, she still didn’t know if that was the case or not, but in the great scheme of things, other things needed to be taken care of before that. She exchanged one look with Ron while Harry was desperately telling their friends that there was no plan for them, and she was ready to intervene when he went quiet all of a sudden, staring at the hole in the wall.

Hermione spotted Fred instantly, even before he saw the others and knew, logically, that she should have expected him to come. There was no question that he and George would be there with them if they thought a battle was imminent, but between breaking into Gringotts, then breaking into the castle without getting caught, Hermione’s mind had been focused solely on two things: finding the ravenclaw horcrux and the basilisk fangs.

“Aberforth’s getting a bit ratty” he said, looking around until his eyes found hers. “He wants a kip and his bar’s turned into a railway station’’

Fred’s mouth worked without his brain, since all he could do from the moment he saw her was take her in. She looked so different than the girl he danced with all those months ago. Hermione was thinner, her hair was longer and her eyes seemed colder, but he winked at her, and she smiled at him and he felt as if he was back to that night in the wedding tent when she accused him of not being serious with her.

That thought still had the ability to amuse him deeply.

“We have a problem” he heard George say to him “Your girlfriend is officially way cooler than both of us together. She’s just robbed Gringotts and escaped on a dragon!”

It took Fred a few seconds to fully comprehend what his brother was saying. No wonder that George was fascinated. Nobody has ever been able to break into Gringotts and lived to tell the tale, not to mention that flying away on a dragon part that seemed so improbable considering that Hermione Granger hates everything related to flying. There was no time to dwell on that, but deep down he was both worried and impressed by her break-in abilities.

“No problem in dating a woman way cooler than you” Ginny joined in, uninvited. “What you meant by the problem is that our brother just robbed Gringotts and escaped on a dragon. We’ll hear that story for a thousand times.” Then, she added “if all goes well now” as an afterthought, stopping any forthcoming joke from the twins.

It took Fred all his patience to stay put until Harry explained what he needed to find, then got Luna to help him look for the diadem and left. The Room went quiet after that, until everyone started talking at the same time about what they should do. Fred saw Ron turning his head to Hermione and asking her something, then he yelled to get everyone’s attention.

“We’re pretty sure Voldemort is coming over here right now. Harry will need all our help to keep him away until he finds the diadem. Which means we need people and fast.”

“We must inform the teachers” Hermione quipped in. “Something has to be done about the headmaster and the Carrows”

“Me and Neville can go speak with McGonagall, but if the Carrows are patrolling around we could use someone to distract them” said Ginny, taking out her wand, then going to stand next to Neville.

“We also sent messages to everyone who’s got a coin from the DA” said Neville “so everyone should be updated by now”

“That’s perfect. We have to go look for Myrtle’s bathroom, we need to get inside the chamber, but someone has to alert the Order too, we are going to need their help. Fred, George?” asked Ron, looking at his brothers.

“Will do, little brother” said George, before coming closer to Ron and hugging him tight. Then he let go and turned to Hermione. “We are so glad you three are all right” he said, then he whispered so that only she could hear him “Told you Fred’s luckier than I am. He’s only been hexed 3 times and stunned once since we last saw you and the stunner came from me because he wanted to go and gut Bellatrix Lestrange for what she did to you.”

Hermione looked up at George with surprise, both for Fred’s actions and the fact that they knew about the Malfoy manor. Although that shouldn’t be a surprise since they got help at Bill and Fleur, Hermione realized. “And you needed to stun him for that?”

“Bastard’s stronger than he seems and he was highly motivated” George shrugged his shoulders, then smiled at her. “Don’t get me wrong, I want to set the bitch on fire too, but blasting the doors of the Malfoy manor in broad daylight with the possible option of meeting several Death Eaters along the way before we got to Bellatrix didn’t seem to be the best decision at the time.”

“Thank you” she whispered, because he’s stopped Fred from something that might have cost him his life and also because the mental image of Bellatrix Lestrange burning was quite satisfying. It was a sign of how much she hated her that the image didn’t cause Hermione any disturbance. She was, instead, startled by George’s concern at her safety and totally dumbfounded by Fred’s reaction.

“What are you going to do in the chamber, resurrect the basilisk or defile his grave?” Asked Fred after he hugged Ronald too.

Hermione was on the point of answering, when George saw the opportunity and took it.

“The basilisk? Another incredibly dangerous creature? Honestly Granger, do you plan on becoming more out of his league than you already are?” he asked quite loud, as if she was behaving in the most preposterous way. Then he winked at her, but it was enough to make everyone interested in their conversation.

“What would I do without you, Georgie?” asked Fred, sighing.

“Out of his league?” Hermione repeated, as if that was the most ridiculous thing she’s heard in all her life. And truth be told, it was. She’s just found out the man needed to be stunned to be stopped from going after someone who hurt her. And even without that, she’s known for a long time that Fred Weasley was someone special. There were no leagues in which she was that he wasn’t worthy of.

Ron was looking from George, to Hermione, to Fred, in the same way that most people from the room were doing, with his brows furrowed in thought.

“What is George talking about?”

But Hermione wasn’t hearing Ron. Her eyes were set on Fred’s and before she knew it, his arms found her, picked her up and kissed her senseless, exactly as she’d always imagined he would these past months in that cold tent. She closed her eyes and got lost in the way his mouth felt on hers and in the way his hands felt on her body, almost not hearing the cheers from the room. Eventually, he set her down and winked at her again. “In case you get cold down there”

Conscious that everyone was staring at them, she looked him in the eyes and said “When all this is over, you’re taking me on that date, Fred Weasley”.

He kissed her again, softly, saying only one thing.

“ _I promise_ ”

…

It was the seventh and the last.

When that corridor exploded that night during the battle, Fred Weasley died with a smile on his face.

But magic takes promises very seriously. You see, it can be unpredictable and capricious, but also astonishing and sometimes even miraculous. And a vow made seven times is seven times more powerful than the most potent spell ever invented. So magic made sure Fred Weasley kept its own.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!   
> Let me know what you think of this story. I don't usually ship Hermione/Fred, but this idea came to me a few years ago and it got stuck in my mind until I wrote it.


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